To sacrifice a gourd or not?

[Computermama]

So since the christmas polls are getting scary with my thanksgiving being tomorrow, I decided to start a Halloween one. What's your family's pumpkin tradition? Do you pick one yourself? Do you lug it from the giant display at the grocery store? Do you grow it yourself? Who carves it? Do you do elaborate carvings, or just simple faces? How do you dispose of it when Halloween is over? I was going to add a poll, but it's a multifaceted question, so it really needed multiple polls, and the software would asplode.

[Computermama]

We get them from the grocery store. Usually 2-3 of them and I carve out the guts, have DD1 pick a pattern for each, and carve them. No simple faces for us. Last year we had a compost so they got plunked in there, but this year we have city run compost so it'll go in there. This year I got some mr potato head like things so DD1 can have her own pumpkin to decorate. I'd like to do more this year, but with velcro baby, I think I might stick to one for DD1 and one for me.

[L J]

We always go to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins, but I buy some at the grocery store, too.

I hate to carve them, but DS loves it so we always do one for him. That one gets tossed after Halloween, the ones that aren't carved stay on my porch until after Thanksgiving, when I replace them with poinsettias.

When I say tossed, I throw it in the woods. The deer and the rabbits appreciate it.

I bought a pack of seeds to plant some gourds, but I didn't get around to it this year. Come April, that's the first thing I'm planting.

[flynnsmom]

We grow a bunch! We usually carve 2 and eat the rest. We compost the carved ones when we are done. I do the cutting and DS scoops out the guts. We also have friends over to pick a pumpkin from our "patch".

[babycat42]

We buy from the grocery store or the farmer's market.
I get mainly pie pumpkins and a few big ones too. We paint them or stick on stickers. then as time goes buy they fall under the knife one by one. U made pumpkin fudge, pan sauteed pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin butter, lots of other things too.

This year we have a dark purple painted pumpkin covered with glittery bats, one covered in glittery butterflies, one white one painted with copper and gold leaves.

OT: I hate the way fresh pumpkin guts smell.

[evasimone]

I haven't carved a pumpkin in years... pure laziness really. I do a thanksgiving centerpiece with pumpkins and votives but for some reason I always skip Halloween carving.

[nicolemariep]

We go to a local farm to pick pumpkins. We make a whole morning off it, and we always buy a gallon of the best fresh-pressed cider in the world

We don't carve yet because my kids just like to enjoy their pumpkins (they're 2 and 4). They just hang around the house until around Thanksgiving then they go into the yard waste recycling bin.

[Dmpmercury]

I buy pie pumpkins and use them in lots of pumpkin recipes and make pumpkin smoothies. I love pumpkins so I use them for cooking rather than carving.

[earthflower]

sacrifice for the kids
cook mine

[Fairycat]

I used to buy ours at the pumpkin patch, but here at the grocery store. We carve ours on Halloween, and that night or the following day, they get hacked and made into pumpkin mash for my pumpkin bread. Contray to what people have told me, I think basic pumpkins make fine mash at least for bread. I don't use candles, instead we use the safety lights, and I typically display our pumpkins inside to protect them. I like getting double duty from my pumpkins